L.E.D. Navigation/Strobes/Interior Lights

[GAHorn]

Just an "update" on LEDLight.com .... be aware they have a 5-day return policy on defective lamps. If you order from them be certain to test them thoroughly before the 5-day period is up or you will have to pay the postage to return them. (A $14 lamp cost's $6 postage to receive it, and another $6 to return it for a $14 credit or replacement which will cost another $6 postage to receive. See what I mean? It's just as well to toss it in the trash as to return it if you let more than 5-days pass before discovering a defective lamp.)
I just rec'd a pair of their 49785R1156 36 Super Bright LED's.... and it took more than 8 days before I actually made a flight with them turned on. Vibration revealed that one row of LEDs were intermittent, and it will cost me the postage to return it, and the postage to receive a replacement.
I've had two failures so far (out of 12 lamps, and hopefully that's a fluke... but if it happens again I'll be looking for a different supplier who will pay return postage.

[Zreyn]

Back to the LED nav lights,I had a red 1157 LED bulb in stock from a motor cycle & found that not only did it fit the socket on nav light but the contact in said socket contacts both contacts on said bulb & therefore turns on all LED,s in the bulb.Ordered a green one for the other side & WA LA .Didn't have to grind the lug off the 1156.Just FWIW

[4-Shipp]

Maybe I missed this somehere: Any chance of an LED option for the landing/taxi light bulbs?

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Back to the LED nav lights,I had a red 1157 LED bulb in stock from a motor cycle & found that not only did it fit the socket on nav light but the contact in said socket contacts both contacts on said bulb & therefore turns on all LED,s in the bulb.Ordered a green one for the other side & WA LA .Didn't have to grind the lug off the 1156.Just FWIW

Zreyn I made this exact observation way back on page three of this thread about the 1157 base. You did exactly what I would do if I was doing this. I might actually modify the LED though by connecting the two center pins with a bit of solder to insure connection of both.

BTW you do not want to substitute an 1157 incandescent bulb for any of the Grimes bulbs because lighting both filaments of that bulb draws over 5 amps.

[n2582d]

Maybe I missed this somehere: Any chance of an LED option for the landing/taxi light bulbs?

Yes, but the admission price is a bit steep. $495 vs. $10 for a G.E. 4509. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/e ... eroSun.php On their website AeroLED says the G.E. light costs $100 each. http://www.aeroleds.com/landinglights/s ... atrix.aspx Maybe if they realized the light they want to replace is 1/10th the price they think it is AeroLED might reduce their cost to $49.50.

Click to Enlarge

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[GAHorn]

LED landing lites are available for some aircraft, but.... they leave something to be desired. Those made for the Hawker-jets cost $12-Grand for the conversion, and the pilots I've talked to were a bit disappointed. Yes....they light up the runway... but they do so in a "softer" manner than the piercing-beams of their previous incandescents. They wish they'd not talked the boss into letting them do it, and now.... they don't dare let him know they've spent $12K of his money and aren't happy with the results. (The Hawker doesn't suffer from insufficient generated electrical capacity.... but it's landing lights generate so much heat that if forgotten on the ground on an unmoving aircraft for a minute or so.... they melt the lenses which make up part of the wing leading edge and THAT is an airworthiness issue that costs about $5-Grand to replace the lenses. They wanted LEDs to get away from the heat...but are unhappy about the loss of illumination with LEDs in that service.)

[Zreyn]

Bruce now that you brought my attention to it & I went back to reread it I do recall that you brought it up before!Suffering from severe case of CRAFT.

[n2582d]

LED landing lites are available for some aircraft, but.... they leave something to be desired.

This YouTube videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlr1t4WRvvU sure confirms that.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Bruce now that you brought my attention to it & I went back to reread it I do recall that you brought it up before!Suffering from severe case of CRAFT.

Hey Z it's no big deal and I considered not even mentioning it except George and I keep score of these things and he's way ahead.

[j3pup]

Has anybody been able to replace the bulbs behind the dash with led's? If not where do i find I replacement for one in the dash?

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

The number is GE 1816 for a clear, 1816R for a red one and 1816TR for transparent red. I'd probably go for clear or transparent red. Do a google search to find suppliers.

One problem with an led replacement is an LED is directional. You would want to find one that projected light to the side and in this case in almost every direction. A tale order for an LED specially one of this size.

[hungstart]

Well, I bit the bullet and ordered 3 bulbs tonight. $51.21 to my mail box. Will let you guys know how it turns out.

Rick
N170MB soon to be N170RC

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Just a follow up on the stock instrument panel bulbs. I stopped into my local electric supply house and asked for some GE 1816 bulbs. The man said that sounded familiar and off he went. A few minutes later he has a box of ten for me do I decided to push a little and asked if he had them in red. He just laughed. The guy next to him said a Sharpie worked pretty well and then I could have any color sharpie made.

So here is a picture of a clear bulb colored red with a Sharpie.

1816 Instrument panel bulbs.jpg (55.48 KiB) Viewed 23815 times

When lit it looks great. Wonder hole long it will last?

I'm thinking maybe I should have used blue and called it a Night Vision Goggle (NVG) upgrade.

[GAHorn]

Where did you find the FAA-PMA Sharpie?

[cessna170bdriver]

Where did you find the FAA-PMA Sharpie?

Probably the same place Blueldr finds his FAA-PMA oil and batteries: Pep Boys!